Coach De! India

explores the murky world inhabited by Indian coaches.

The year: 1995. Two young doubles players were testing their partnership in some challenger tennis tournaments. A few months later, convinced by their coach to represent the country in a crucial Davis Cup match against Croatia, they beat a Croatian team that included Wimbledon finalist Goran Ivanisevic, and announced their arrival on the big court. The rest, to use that old cliche, is history.

Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi went on to become the most successful doubles team in tennis history, while coach Jaidip Mukherjea, more than happy to "instill that belief" in the duo, stayed out of the limelight. As he puts it, "There is no greater pleasure for a coach than to see players who they have coached do well."

One of most respected coaches Indian tennis, or Indian sport for that matter, has seen, Mukherjea's contribution has been nothing short of extraordinary. Apart from being one of the finest tennis players India has produced, he has been coach for the Holland and Malaysian Davis Cup teams and runs a training academy in Kolkata. Still, he says, "Coaches, somewhere, have not been given due credit for their role."

It's a feeling Sunita Sharma, who was coach of the Indian women's cricket team, can empathise with. Citing the example of one of her proteges, test player Deep Dasgupta, she says Indian sportspersons tend to forget their early successes.

When Dasgupta was seven, he came under Sharma's tutelage, yet she was given no credit even after he was selected to play for the national team. "Not that I am bitter, but it definitely hurts when kids you have trained don't even give you enough recognition," she says. Still, Sharma should consider herself lucky: she's the only woman coach to ever have been honoured with the Dronacharya award.

Mukherjea has been around for too long to wonder why the coach is allowed to remain in the background, yet must feel the heat should anything go wrong in any player's career. "When a player wins, almost all the credit goes to him," he says, "but if he loses, the blame is shouldered by the coach."

That's a sentiment probably shared by most coaches. M K Kaushik, who led the women's hockey team to several wins, rues: "It is a struggle to be a coach in this country. Not having a say in selections, fighting for issues like infrastructure "" at times it is a thankless job."

Yet, it's something he loves to do, having been mentor to household names like Dhanraj Pillay and Mukesh Kumar in the men's team and Jasjit Kaur in the women's. He ranks the women's hockey win at the Asia Cup as one of the high points in his career. "We were not even given an outside chance but won the trophy," his eyes shine at the memory.

Barring cricket, Indian sport has struggled to achieve cult status, but that has not stopped coaches from producing world-class talent. Arvind Savur, who trained billiards champion Pankaj Advani, or S M Arif who discovered badminton sensation Saina Nehwal and former All England champion Pullela Gopichand, may have coached world-beaters, yet they remain on the sidelines and accept their failures stoically.

Just last month, for instance, Arif was held responsible for a debacle in an international tournament three years ago. "We never say don't blame us," says Kaushik, "but making us scapegoats is unacceptable."

C G K Bhupathi, father and coach of Mahesh Bhupathi, who also trained Sania Mirza during her early career, feels the coach has to do almost everything for the player. "It is satisfying to see them doing well and making the country and, at some level me, proud."

Apart from providing guidance, a coach must play the role of a personal mentor as well. "If a player is doing well, it is mandatory to tell him/her to keep their feet on the ground." In a country like ours, where one snatch of glory can lead to instant stardom, this is an aspect most coaches struggle with.

V R Beedu, among the best track-and-field events coaches in the country, insists that those who run the sports federations shy away from sharing any credit with the coaches. "Do they honestly think that giving us a Dronacharaya award is good enough?" he thunders.

The national coach of the athletics team for various international events, Beedu quit his assignment with the Sports Authority of India at the age of 45, but a decade-and-a-half later he's still scouting for and honing talent in Bangalore.

"The problem with our sporting culture is that merit is often overlooked. Unless you know the right people in the right places, you will find it difficult as a player as well as a coach," he points out.

Differences between any sports federation and a coach are grist to the mill anywhere in the world, but what irks many in India is the sidelining of a common effort in producing world-class talent.

Says Sharma, "People keep pushing players or coaches from their state associations even when they don't have 10 per cent talent." Recalling an incident in 1977, Beedu remembers someone powerful in a sports federation in the north blocking track-and-field talent from the south because of the absurd notion that "southies don't have a good diet".

Despite a perception gaining ground after the recent Greg Chappell fiasco that foreign coaches are not welcome in India, coaches here, at least, are quick to dispel the myth.

"We need foreign coaches, and not only for our players but for our coaches as well," emphasises Mukherjea. He should know "" after all, he's been a "foreign" coach too! "The kind of work ethic and professionalism that foreign coaches bring," he says, "is phenomenal."

It's a positive sign, points out Kaushik, that almost all disciplines have, or are looking to get, foreign coaches. Says Sharma, "Some former players or authorities might complain as their position comes under threat, but a coach knows what's good or bad for his team."

Bob Houghton, the national coach of the football team that won the Nehru Cup this week, is a perfect example of a foreign coach doing well.

Eventually, it is not the nationality but the discipline a coach instills that builds a great player or team. "A coach has to be totally involved without focussing attention on himself," says Kaushik. That's something Mukherjea knows only too well. He was in Atlanta during the 1996 Olympic Games when Leander Paes lifted the bronze medal, yet never spoke to too many people about it.

"Modesty and humility are two of the most important aspects of coaching," he says. The job, he says, is like a movie director's. Actors hog the limelight, but the director knows it has been his doing.

Not all players have proved ungrateful. Billiards coach Arvind Savur is known to keep billiards tables in his house and teaches youngsters for free. Pankaj Advani, who had a short yet glittering career, has never failed to acknowledge the role Savur played in it.

And Pullela Gopichand gifted coach S M Arif a car on his retirement. As Savur puts it, "Apart from dedication from a player, the coach too has to be dedicated to his development." One of his proudest moments was to see Advani win the billiards world championship.

"There are a lot of good coaches in the country who are doing their best to produce world-class talent," says Bhupathi, "but we need to encourage them more."

Take squash coach Cyrus Poncha who has consistently produced world beaters like Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal, or others in boxing or table tennis who, in spite of doing extremely well, remain unheard of. What can help them? Better coordination with the federations, perhaps, or sorting out the selection processes.

It becomes a battle then, this issue of staying in the background or courting the limelight and controversy. "It's the sport or the team which is more important than personal glories," says Kaushik.

"At times I feel maybe not enough credit has been given to me, but you have to look at the bigger picture," agrees Sharma. The bigger picture, in her case, has included seeing the over 150 students she has trained being selected for various state or national teams.

For Beedu, it is the learning curve that is as important as the art of training youngsters. "A coach should be in sync with today's times and be familiar with the new methods being adopted all over the world."

He tells a story of how a national level coach didn't know the latest rules, resulting in a major faux pas at an international event. Beedu has coaching degrees from Germany and Iran and even though these are three decades old, "it is an altogether new experience what these countries can teach you".

Of course, strategy and tactics are important but only on the days immediately leading up to an important tournament or match, as they must remain dynamic till the end. "We deal with students from various parts of the country, so understanding their psychology is also important."

Each player needs to be handled differently, which is why one-to-one coaching is better, according to most coaches. "There is a fad for camps across the country, but what good are they if they allow only one minute to each student to show his skill?" asks Beedu. Agrees Sharma, "If we persist with camps, there has to be a better way of conducting them."

A far better role in selection is something most coaches would want, especially in team sports like hockey, cricket or football. Numerous men's hockey coaches have resigned, or been made to quit, because they weren't given the right personnel.

"Coaching itself is a team game "" you need assistants who, at times, might be better than you in some aspects," says Kaushik. While most foreign teams or players have a team of experts like a team psychologist and fitness experts with them, Indian authorities often overlook these aspects. "It's changing for the better now," says Mukherjea, "but there is still a long way to go."

It must be said that the coaching scene is better now than it was 15 years ago. Still, recognition for coaches is slow in coming and, apart from an award or two, coaches continue to be treated in a shabby manner. If despite this coaches continue to strive to produce talent, it is because of "the satisfaction of coaching a nine-year-old and seeing him do well", says Beedu.

It can be a boring job too, observing the same routine day in and day out without hope of reward. "It is a dirty job," says Mukherjea, "but someone has to do it." "What we need is to work in tandem with the authorities to ensure that we become a sporting superpower because, make no mistake, we can do it," adds Kaushik.

Is anybody out there listening?

A FEW DRONACHARY AWARDEES

M Venu (Boxing) National boxing coach who has been working with boxers like Vijender Singh and Akhil Kumar

Sunny Thomas (Shooting) Was the coach of the team that hauled a bagful of medals at the 2006 Commonwealth Games

E Prasad Rao (Kabaddi) National team coach who has led the Indian team to glory at the Asian Games

Ashok Koneru (Chess) Coach and father of international grandmaster Humpy Koneru

Ajay Sirohi (Weightlifting) Coached the weightlifting team to three gold medals at the 1998 Commonwealth Games

Syed Naeemuddin (Football) One of the longest serving coaches in Indian football. Current coach of the Bangladesh national team

Ismail Baig (Rowing) National coach of rowing team who coached the team that won three gold medals at the 2006 Asian Games

Shyam Sunder Rao (Volleyball) Volleyball coach who has coached the senior and junior national teams